Chelsea 0-0 Wolverhampton Wanderers, Premier League: post-match reaction, ratings

A new day, but a lot of familiarity, both good and bad.

Chelsea started the game with the manager’s proverbial new rebound in our footsteps, with lots of pace, power, invention and momentum, using the full width of the pitch but not just crossing.

But as so often happens, a scoreless quarter hour of opening turned into scoreless possession, and while Chelsea racked up the passing numbers, we posed little real threat to Wolves’ goal. To our credit, we kept the Wolves from blocking a lot since we had the ball pretty much all the time (very Sarri-ball, that), but other than a few set pieces and Hudson-Odoi runs, there was little danger of blue jerseys.

The second half was about the same, with Chelsea posing a bit more threat, but Wolves also posing more threat on their rare counters. A few half-chances for Chilwell, Giroud and Havertz begged, as did some excellent passes through the six-yard box, as Neto hit the crossbar on a counter that may or may not have counted in the end with some strong offside suggestions in the process.

Tuchel tried something different by adding Pulisic to the fray to play at the back as well, but Chelsea still haven’t been able to find a meaningful breakthrough.

0-0.

Carefree.

• Originally signaled as a 4-2-3-1, Tuchel went for what turned out to be a 3-4-3, with Azpilicueta playing the center-back and Hudson-Odoi at the back to the Moses under Conte. Two No.10s in support of a lone striker, Kovacic and Jorginho racking up assists in the middle.
• Pulisic for the last 15 games to play from full back, Hudson-Odoi moving to the left and Chilwell starting. Abraham for Giroud and Mount for Ziyech the other two changes.
• Chelsea move up to 8th, at least for now, tied on points with Arsenal, at least five points out of the top four.
• Next stop: Burnley on Sunday (Burnley won again today, their third in a row, beating Aston Villa, Spirit.)
• KTBFFH

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